The Accidental Sheriff Read Online Free PDF Page A

counting on that.
     
    N EIL’S FIRST DAY as acting sheriff wasn’t going well, not that he’d expected anything different after the interview with Rowdy and Carolina. Fortunately, his shift was almost over.
    Lifting the phone to his ear, he pushed a button on the dial pad. A generic female voice told him, “You have forty-six new messages. Press number sign to—”
    He disconnected before the voice could finish.
    When he’d first arrived at the station after leaving KPKD, he’d listened to the two dozen messages already waiting forhim and taken another dozen calls before issuing instructions that all nonemergencies be sent directly to his voice mail. The congratulations were nice, if tedious. Even the complaints and angry rants didn’t bother him.
    It was the threat to resign or else that got to him, turning his blood to ice and releasing a flood of unwelcome memories.
    Neil had no idea if the anonymous caller was serious—the threat wasn’t specific, only saying he’d regret accepting the position of acting sheriff, but he’d refused to take any chances and immediately reported the incident.
    He pushed another button on his phone. “Mary, can you come in here, please.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Mary Twohorses, Sheriff Herberger’s—and now Neil’s—secretary, padded into his office, amazingly light on her feet for a woman of such generous proportions. She’d started with the sheriff’s department back when two small rooms served as headquarters and typewriters were used in place of computers. “Can I help you with something?”
    “Go through my voice messages from today, please. Delete the unimportant ones and make note of the calls I need to return.”
    “Of course.”
    “There are a lot of them.”
    “No problem.”
    She wore the same patient smile she always did. Nothing ruffled Mary Twohorses’s feathers, for which Neil was glad. It had taken him less than an hour on the job this morning to realize he’d be lost without her.
    “Thank you.” He opened the top right drawer and retrieved his few personal possessions.
    “Are you leaving for the day?” she asked.
    “Yeah. I have to pick up my daughter from after-schoolday care.” He pocketed his cell phone and keys. “Is R.J. here yet?”
    “Just arrived.”
    “Good.”
    Mary followed Neil down the hall as far as her office. She would normally have gone home already but was staying late to help with the transition. In the central room, Neil met up with R.J., his lead deputy and the one in charge tonight, and quickly briefed him before leaving by way of the rear door.
    The ride to the elementary school his daughter attended didn’t take long. He swung into the main parking lot and joined the long line of vehicles already there. A few minutes later, Zoey, along with a crowd of about twenty-five children, burst through the double glass doors. They were closely monitored by a trio of energetic day-care workers. Zoey was released only when Neil stepped out of the patrol car and came around to the passenger side.
    She skipped over to him, clutching a packet of papers as if they were constructed of spun gold while dragging her Hello Kitty backpack on the ground. The hair her babysitter, Carmen, had so carefully arranged that morning hung down into her face. Her T-shirt was rumpled and stained with what Neil guessed was finger paint, and her sneaker laces were untied.
    He ignored her disarray. To him, his daughter looked adorable.
    “Daddy, Daddy!” She delicately peeled the papers away from her chest and waved them at Neil. “Look.”
    “How about a hug first?” He bent down to her level.
    She obliged his request. When he would have held her a moment longer, she pulled away. “You have to read this.”
    As if he could. The papers were upside down and moving from side to side. He did manage to recognize the Kinder Kids logo, the after-school activity club to which Zoey belonged.He assumed the papers were information about another field trip to the